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Abandonment Issues :: Modern Ruins
Imagine walking through a city, much like any other, except that you realise there are no people in this one. Not that everyone is away on holiday or anything like that… there just aren’t any people. You’re walking through a modern-day ruin.
In some parts of the world, ghost-towns are pretty commonplace. But in the UK, where I live, space is at a premium and so there are very few truly abandoned towns and villages. There are a few that were flooded in the process of building reservoirs, but I’m not able to find much information on ghost towns you can actually go and visit in the UK. That doesn’t stop me being fascinated with the idea of modern-day ruins, and so here are some that I found online and would love to visit if I had the time and money.
I remember when the Chernobyl reactor blew. I was 8 years old, and living in the Orkney Islands in the North of Scotland. The whole story seemed so distant but scary as the news programmes forecast radioactive fallout spreading through the atmosphere. At the time it never occurred to me what would have happened to the people who lived in the area around the power plant.
Maybe it’s because I remember the event, but if I could visit one abandoned space I would like to visit Pripyat, a large town/city that housed the workers for Chernobyl and was abandoned in the aftermath of the explosion. Since very few people have dared venture back into the radioactive zone, Pripyat is incredibly well preserved as a reminder of mid-80s Soviet life. Most of the buildings still stand, and have a surreal quality because of the haste with which everything was just abandoned. For me, this is the ultimate modern-day ruin… the kind that you could almost imagine people just coming back to after a holiday and wondering what on earth you are doing taking photos of everything.
There are apparently still pockets of intense radiation within some of the buildings, though, and the graveyard is where some of the most radioactive material from Chernobyl was buried, so it’s is not recommended to go without a good knowledge of the area, or a guide.
Image by Oinkylicious
The buildings from the New York World’s Fair are amazing but, as with so many special projects like this one, they fell into disrepair after the event. The ones that remain make an impressive backdrop in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, New York.
What I like about this site is that it’s actually in the middle of a public park… not hard to reach, and easily viewable. The odd and innovative design of the buildings also makes it something special. This is one that I might actually get to visit sometime!
Image by Adaptorplug
Ghost Stations of the London Underground
I used to know someone who worked in Waterloo Station, London. He told me that there were abandoned ticket halls and admin areas underground… huge cavernous places that were just walled up and only accessible by maintenance workers now. However, he would put a word in with the stationmaster and see if he could get me a tour. Wow! I was going to get to see one of the London Underground’s “Ghost Stations”!
Sadly, the 7/7 bombings happened, and security on the underground was beefed up. I tried writing directly to the tube’s customer relations office, but the answer was the same… “We just can’t be too careful these days”. So I never got my tour, and this was one of the things I would really have liked to see.
A ghost station is a station that is no longer in use. It doesn’t appear on any of the underground maps, but you might catch a glimpse of it as your train passes through on its way to one of the stations still in use. For instance, apparently you should be able to see an earlier Kings Cross station just before reaching the current one… they moved the station a little further along the line and just retired the old one. Ghost stations very in age, from those abandoned in the dim and distant past, to one just recently abandoned (I think it’s Charing Cross), which is used for filming television and film scenes that require a modern station.
As you wander around London you will see several buildings with the brickwork you see in the photo above: these are all underground stations, some of which will still be in use, but some of which will now be abandoned.
Still annoyed I didn’t get to see any of them before moving away from London.
Image by Matt from London
For more on ghost stations, click here.
Abandoned Fischkombinat
A quick one to finish with: I came across this one on StumbleUpon, but can’t find a translation for what it actually is. Fish Factory? If anyone has any idea, let me know. Looks like it’s in Russia, since the rest of the blog seems to focus on that country. What gets me about this place is the incredibly impressive, crumbling structure that just looms out of the surrounding scenery. The site seems to be a mixture of bog-standard tower blocks and offices, and whatever that is in the picture of the seal. I would love to visit and explore this place and find out more about what went on there.
Are there any cool abandoned spaces near you?
Discussion
7 comments for “Abandonment Issues :: Modern Ruins”
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When visiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, you are required to have a guide with you. They know where the hot spots are and will keep you away from them.
I personally visited the Chernobyl area for two days in June 2006 with a friend and former resident of Pripyat. We toured the Chernobyl Plant (including the Reactor 4 control room), several of the abandoned villages, and Pripyat. I have posted a photo journal of my trip at: My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster
Thanks Mark - the site I got most of my information from was by a woman who had a government pass to go into the exclusion zone alone… not something I’d ever want to try!
Chris,
I assume your source was Elena Filatova’s story about riding her motorcycle around the Zone. If that is the case, you should know that it has been proven she never rode a motorcycle in the Zone, and did not have a government pass to go into the Zone by herself.
One of the guides remembered Elena from one of the regular tours and thought it was odd that Elena brought a motorcycle helmet with her.
While that is disappointing, most of the information in her story are valid facts, and the photos are also real, except for photoshopping the motorcycle into a few. Though part of the story is fictional, I still think Elena did a great thing by bringing Chernobyl back to the attention of the general public.
BTW, I have been in contact with a lady who truly is allowed to go into the Zone by herself. She is an author and has been to the Zone so many times that she knows where the really bad hot spots are Due to her experience, the authorities trust her to be in the Zone by herself. This is a rare exception - I know some people including a former Pripyat resident who have been to the Zone at least 30-40 times and are still required to have a guide with them.
That’s the one, Mark - looks like I was taken in by her site then!
How did you find visiting the Zone? Is it a quiet place? I always imagine that there’s no sign of life at all, but I’ve seen from various accounts that there’s actually quite a lot of wildlife.
I’m fascinated by your photo-journal, by the way. The photo of the nursery in Kopachi Village seems particularly poignant with that stuffed toy lying on the floor.
Chris - The Zone is an extremely quiet place. The most startling thing about it is to stand in the middle of a city that used to have a population of almost 50,000 people and hear absolute silence. I think that is the only time I could truly relate to the saying “the silence is deafening.”
Regarding wildlife, we saw a bunch of turtles, a rabbit and some dogs in Chernobyl and at the Pripyat checkpoint. I know there are also wolves, moose, wild boars, many different bird species, a herd of Przewalski’s horses (Polish origin) and other animals.
I’m glad you like my photo journal. I have seen many photos of the stuffed lion from the Kopachi kindergarten - usually in different positions. It seems that many photographers reposition items to get a more “emotional” shot. I merely photographed what I saw.
The most touching thing to me was the child’s coloring book with the elephant and butterfly that was on the Krasne school floor. The next most emotional thing for me was being in my friend Sasha’s apartment with him. He has been back so many times that it doesn’t really affect him anymore, but it was quite eerie to me.
Amazing - thanks for sharing, Mark. You’ve made me want to go even more!
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